Rosaceae L95 



cious flowers in druse globular heads. Receptacle some- 

 what fleshy. Calyx of 3-8 externally minute sepals. 

 Corollas of as many thin glabrous petals. Staminate 

 flowers with stamens as many as sepals and opposite 

 them : filaments short ; anthers Longitudinally dehis- 

 cent. Pistillate flowers with 2-8 distinct pistils; ovary 

 linear, 1-celled : style elongated ; stigma lateral. Fruit 

 a dense head, composed of numerous narrowly obpyra- 

 midal nutlets which are densely pubescenl below with 

 long hairs ; seed pendulous ; endosperm thin : cotyle- 

 dons lineal'. 



1. PLATANUS L. Plane-tree or Sycamore. 



Characters of the family. 



1. P. racemosa Nutt. A large widely branching tree, 10-25 

 m. high; leaves .stellate-pubescent when young, becoming gla- 

 brate, 10-15 cm. broad and scarcely as long, mostly 5-lobed, trun- 

 cate or somewhat cordate at base; lobes acute, the lower smaller, 

 bluntly cuspidate at the ends of the veins ; petioles shorter than 

 the leaves; stipules larger on young twigs; staminate heads 

 several ; pistillate heads 3-5. 



Common along all the streams, mostly below 3000 feet altitude. March. 



Family 41. ROSACEAE. Rose Family. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees with alternate mostly stipulate 

 leaves and regular flowers. Calyx free from or adnate 

 to the ovary, usually 5-lobed, sometimes bracteolate. Pet- 

 als distinct, equal in number to the calyx-lobes or none. 

 Stamens usually numerous, inserted on the calyx ; an- 

 thers 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent or rarely by 

 pores. Carpels 1— many, distinct or united. Ovary 

 1— several-celled. Seeds 1 or few in each cell, anatropous ; 

 endosperm present or wanting. 



